Put child on Facebook and warns everyone

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A relative of mine, posts up on Facebook a photo of her child and the plane she is getting off, and writes I warned you now -----------the tornado is about to wreak havoc in your town, good luck, I did warn you.

I think this is mean, but thats only my perspective, it feels mean and bad, but even that child with autism, may think this is funny, they may have that kind of warped humour.

thoughts? opinions?

I wouldn't like that said about myself, it may be sarcasm however it still implies something.

yeah, that's pretty offensive. not cool to pick on stuff that people don't choose for themselves, especially a child.

I'm uncertain. If I called my cat "a tornado" it would be a term of endearment because of the cat's energy and curiosity and tendency to get into everything, all qualities that I think are cute and funny and I wouldn't have it any other way.

If this mom means it that way, like, "Look out, here's the junior whirlwind, your town's never going to be the same!", then I wouldn't get mad, because moms say that kind of thing about their inquisitive, energetic toddlers all the time.

On the other hand, if Mom is referring to her kid as some kind of "bad kid", maybe even resents the kid for being "unmanageable" and tornado-like, I think I'd probably tell her to put a cork in it and not post on Facebook about her kid unless she had something nice to say. It's not that Facebook posts have to be all sweetness and light, really; it's just that a child hasn't got much social defense against mean jokes and shouldn't have to be subjected to them. It's pretty much the same reason I think it's really nasty of parents to post their autistic kids' meltdowns on YouTube. There are plenty of them already; adding to the thousands out there is just kid-shaming for no good reason.

I think parents often say this stuff in an affectionate way.

I know I do. Sort of acknowledging that, yes, they can be little pains. They can be manipulative and destructive and hyperactive and make you feel as if your entire life just got hit dead-on with an EF5 tornado. But, notwithstanding all that (and in fact in part because of all that), we love and treasure them and think they are just wonderful.

Anybody who talks about everything like it's all sunshine and rainbows is probably about to snap.

It took me a minute to realise you weren't talking about a literal tornado...

Anyway, I guess the amount of offence one should take from it depends on how the kid it was written about feels: if she's not bothered, I wouldn't be either, but if she is, I'd be more inclined to be upset by it because it usually means comments like that happen frequently.

I think that was very inappropriate and immature of the mother. Her child doesn't deserve to be portrayed in that way. There's too much of that nonsense on YouTube and the Internet already.

To me it sounds really mean spirited and nasty. I mean especially to be telling other people and trying to influence how they see the child. That could be really damaging. If it was said in private in a moment of frustration or just kidding around it might be different. But to put something like that on the internet about a child is just wrong.

Besides that I am shocked anyway by how many people freely post pictures of their children on Facebook or other websites, and talk about where and when they are travelling, where and when they are going on vacation...really?! ! If people want to put themselves at risk, fine, but no one should put a child at risk by revealing things like that online.

I see nothing wrong with it.

Sounds like a joke to me rather than being mean-spirited.

Joke or not what was said implied something negative about the child, perhaps based on some sort of fact or personality stereotype. I don't think doing that is okay, it shows a lack of respect for the child.

Maybe the child does have a bad temper or is very hyperactive?